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The variety of media used further enriches the experience. In addition to painting, sculpture, drawing and photography, the works on display also include textiles and installations: from Mirco Cattai’s precious Persian carpets to Sadley’s (Małgorzata Ciacek Gallery) ‘anti-textiles’, which mix woven nets with wood and metal, inspired by totems and magical symbols.

40 galleries were present. Three new entries, all of them first-class, the Swiss De Jonckheere with unique pieces of Flemish art, the Belgian Floris Van Wanroij and the Polish Malgorzata Ciacek.

Ciacek Gallery instead presents Wojciech Sadley, with a series of works created between 1960 and 1973, when the artist last participated in the Lousanne International Textile Biennale. The works, sculptural in wool and silk, symbolically depict the moment before conception, the mythical creation of a new life.


The feminine is also expressed by the cascade of bright red and flamboyant purple flowing through Wojciech Sadley’s (Malgorzata Ciacek Gallery) anti-textiles, where tangled threads weave a web of primordial sensuality, evoking a supernatural anatomy. In ‘She’, Sadley explores a feminine suspended between dream and reality, between social expectations of control and containment and the instinctive, ancestral desire that inhabits every woman, every human being.


The feminine is also expressed by the cascade of bright red and flamboyant purple flowing through Wojciech Sadley’s (Malgorzata Ciacek Gallery) anti-textiles, where tangled threads weave a web of primordial sensuality, evoking a supernatural anatomy. In ‘She’, Sadley explores a feminine suspended between dream and reality, between social expectations of control and containment and the instinctive, ancestral desire that inhabits every woman, every human being.


For the first time, an art dealer from Poland participates in TEFAF. Olszewski | Ciacek is the only gallery worldwide dedicated to Polish modernism. A niche one, as Warsaw came out of World War II heavy-handed, during which many works of art were also lost. After the war horrors, communist rule pushed modern art further into oblivion.


The prestigious Maastricht Art Fair is celebrating its 37th edition. Such longevity naturally calls for renewal. This is now the case with the Showcase section and the launch of the Focus platform, both of which welcome astonishing young galleries representing different eras of art galleries representing a variety of periods.


’When I travelled to Maastricht during my studies to visit TEFAF, I was immediately sold. I knew: one day I will be here. I didn’t care how, even if it was through an internship. I went after my dream and started a gallery in Warsaw six years ago, together with Michał Olszewski. Through him, I was introduced to Polish modern art, an art form that is rare in Poland, as most galleries exhibit contemporary art. I found out that there are so many artists to rediscover. I am so grateful that my dream has come true, and that I get to work with passionate, talented people. My biggest piece of advice for being successful? Stay true to yourself. If people see that you care about something, they will want to help you. AND, never forget to put things in black and white. That has been my biggest lesson during my career.’

Since 9 March, the prestigious TEFAF fair has been taking place in Maastricht. For the first time, a gallery from Poland – Olszewski | Ciacek – is among the exhibitors. And it is a debut in impressive style – the Warsaw gallery was awarded the J.P. Morgan prize!

A new initiative this year, the first ever J.P. Morgan Private Bank Showcase Prize was awarded to Olszewski | Ciacek, the first Polish gallery to exhibit at TEFAF Maastricht. Olszewski | Ciacek is also the first Warsaw-based gallery to exhibit artists with a focus on Central European avant-garde movements, as well as the most important works of Polish artists from the mid-twentieth century.

‘You should take a look upstairs,’ H. calls out to me when we bump into each other at TEFAF. ‘A Polish gallery!’ Arriving upstairs, I can hardly believe my eyes. Tucked away in a corner is the stand of Olszewski Ciacek, a fairly young gallery from Warsaw participating in Tefaf for the first time. It is in any case the first time a Polish art gallery has presented itself at Tefaf – and how!

Poland’s first TEFAF exhibitor, Olszewski | Ciacek Gallery, is run by a woman, among others; the gallery specialises in Polish modernism. Owner Malgorzata Ciacek founded the Warsaw-based gallery five years ago with her companion Michal Olszewski, as the duo missed attention to art from the last century. In doing so, they shine their light on an – in their view – underrated era. Here, on the left, we see a work by Karol Hiller.

Błażej Rusin creates kaleidoscopic frescos on the walls of abandoned buildings throughout East-Central Europe. Influenced by his origins in the eastern Poland as well the history of the many displaced peoples of this historically multiethnic region, Rusin carefully removes his works—sometimes with bits of plaster—and displays them as mobile wall hangings. At Olszewski Gallery, Rusin’s works are presented alongside the work of 90-year-old artist Wojciech Sadley, an important figure in the Polish School of Textiles from the same region who also painted on easily transportable materials including cloth and parchment. Ranging from €5,000 to €6,000 ($5,000 to $6,000), Rusin’s monumental works, which he describes as “post-graffiti,” are exuberant celebrations of pattern, shape, and color that nod to the medley of cultural influences and diversity of the eastern borderland region of Poland.